History

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat baked cake.
In most English-speaking countries outside North America, it is called a biscuit.

Origin of name

Its name derives from the Dutch word koekje which means little cake, and arrived in the English language via the Scots language, rather than directly from the Dutch. In Scottish English the word denotes a small scone-like cake or bun, often filled with cream.

Cookies were first made from little pieces of cake batter that were cooked separately in order to test oven temperature. The ancestor of the cookie is said to have come from Persia (from the Persian kooluchih) in the 7th century according to many sources.

For more information go to: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CookieHistory.htm